We need to get Tivo and Verizon working on this. I did call VZ about it last week... they said they'd get back to me, but haven't. But if this is a system-wide problem, dealing with it on the CSR level probably won't work anyway. What can we do, that won't just get Tivo and VZ pointing fingers at each other?

Is the SDV problem coming down the road for some cable companies something that FIOS might also try to use someday? Or is it not relevant for this technology.

Verizon has its hands full right now just rolling out the basics. Remember they are decades behind the traditional cable companies in terms of established experience. Once they settle down and hit steady state, they might consider it. The FIOS infrastructure is slightly different from the cable companies in that they use IP for much of their interactive content. This frees some bandwidth for now.

What can we do, that won't just get Tivo and VZ pointing fingers at each other?

...and the finger pointing has officially begun. Verizon did get back to me after I posted yesterday, and sent out a crew. They wanted to try swapping CableCards, but didn't have any, so they just checked the error logs on my one VZ STB (fine) and left, promising to come back with CCs today. A different crew came with CCs today, but they never tried them. They tested the signal on the line (fine), then called home, and said they were told "it's a Tivo compatibility problem." They wouldn't do anything else at that point. Not that I think that swapping the cards would've helped.

P.S. Anybody in the Metro D.C. area, or Anne Arundel/Howard County, are you getting sound on CSN (65) or MASN (66)?

I live in New Jersey... Is anyone having problems with receiving certain FIOS HD National channels (TNT (825), ESPN (826), etc? ) I was on the phone with tech support last night and they've escalated the problem and hopefully will get to the bottom of it. I was able to have WWE on demand and France channel added but no luck with HD content although I was set up with HD premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, etc.) when they first installed. I tried to clear and delete everything and re-run guided setup to see if that would bring in those channels but no luck. Just curious if anyone else is expriencing a similar problem.

I have Verizon FIOS in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Have two Series 2's working with STB's and blasters - no problems. My Series 3 with 2 cablecards is having the same problems listed above. No audio on 65, 66 & 81 and nothing at all on 71 (520) and 871. Just got off the phone with Verizon (2nd call about this). Got a good guy who said that it is a known issue and they are "working" on it. Verizon is pointing fingers at TiVo and TiVo is pointing back at Verizon. The tech pointed out that various providers around the US are having issues with different channels. ??? Probably doesn't help anyone but this is what I have so far.

Southeastern Pennsylvania with an S3 (and an S2)
Pixelation problems (due to CableCard?) with SciFi (160)
Also noticed pixelation problems on Travel Channel (150) and Bravo (165)
Verizon's Motorola QIP2500-3 that my S2 is hooked up to seems to get these channels fine.
I noticed problems last night; my wife mentioned it to me a day or two ago.

I see sporadic pixelation on a number of channels, but nothing consistent, nor that I can say is different on S3 vs. VZ STB (although I hardly watch the VZ STB). But the most pixelation I've seen has been on WGN (29), on the set that's hooked up via analog.

thanks for the info bkdtv, but the pixelation only appears on my television hooked up to my series3 with the cablecards. i recorded the second showing of dresden files and battlestar galactica on my series 2 (which is hooked up to a motorola qip2500-3 digital cable box) without any problem. why would i only have problems with the series3 that uses the cablecards?

my cable connection seems good, and i used to receive four channels (scifi, bravo, travel, and tbs - channel 52) without any problem. i'm hoping it is some sort of verizon's infrastructure as bkdtv mentioned earlier. my signal strength is low on these channels now (around 95-96, whereas all the other channels are 98, 99, or 100) -- i don't know what the signal strength was a week ago on these channels, but i would guess it was 98 or 99.

Last night, while watching American Idol (HD channel 803), severe pixelation began, causing loss of the audio stream, and it never recovered. The next show we watched was CSI NY (HD channel 800) and it began with occasional audio dropouts but no real pixelization.

We just got Fios installed on Monday, and at the same time I transferred my lifetime subscription to the new S3. Needless to say, this was not a very good start with my VZ viewing experience. We are contemplating abandoning Dish Network and Comcast, in favor Verizon Fios.

I called VZ tech support, and they had me test some other digital channels, beginning in the 200s, and almost all of them exhibited the same pixelization characteristics. When I told them which receiver I was using, they stated that the Fiber Optic system is not compatible with the HD Tivo, and they don't support it. They had me try my other HD receiver (Moto 6200) to confirm that the signal coming to my house is fine.

So now we're in the finger point mode: VZ claiming incompatibility, and I'm sure Tivo will say it's a VZ problem. Should I just give up on the S3 until the VZ cable card and Tivo can work in harmony? Perhaps get the VZ DVR in the interim?

BTW, this morning I turned on the S3, and all is fine. I even ran the "test channels" on each of the cable cards, and there's no problems. Intermittents are a bear to deal with.

Last night, while watching American Idol (HD channel 803), severe pixelation began, causing loss of the audio stream, and it never recovered. The next show we watched was CSI NY (HD channel 800) and it began with occasional audio dropouts but no real pixelization.

We just got Fios installed on Monday, and at the same time I transferred my lifetime subscription to the new S3. Needless to say, this was not a very good start with my VZ viewing experience. We are contemplating abandoning Dish Network and Comcast, in favor Verizon Fios.

I called VZ tech support, and they had me test some other digital channels, beginning in the 200s, and almost all of them exhibited the same pixelization characteristics. When I told them which receiver I was using, they stated that the Fiber Optic system is not compatible with the HD Tivo, and they don't support it. They had me try my other HD receiver (Moto 6200) to confirm that the signal coming to my house is fine.

So now we're in the finger point mode: VZ claiming incompatibility, and I'm sure Tivo will say it's a VZ problem. Should I just give up on the S3 until the VZ cable card and Tivo can work in harmony? Perhaps get the VZ DVR in the interim?

BTW, this morning I turned on the S3, and all is fine. I even ran the "test channels" on each of the cable cards, and there's no problems. Intermittents are a bear to deal with.

Any comments would be appreciated.

They don't support it, but they still have to send a signal that is within specs.

There was a bunch of people in one of the Texas areas (it might have been Dallas) with the same problem. The belief was that the FIOS signal was much too strong (for some on all channels, for others on specific frequency ranges). After a couple of weeks of this, everything cleared up and as far as I know has not returned. I don't know if it was ever confirmed to be too strong of a signal; you might search and see if you can find those threads. But the experiences there indicate it was a Verizon problem (despite their initial denials.)

The same behavior happens with the Motorola STBs/DVRs on occasion -- on those boxes, you fix it by turning the box off and that back on. Sometimes, even bringing up certain menus fixes the problem. It looks like some kind of buffer issue.

They don't support it, but they still have to send a signal that is within specs.

There was a bunch of people in one of the Texas areas (it might have been Dallas) with the same problem. The belief was that the FIOS signal was much too strong (for some on all channels, for others on specific frequency ranges). After a couple of weeks of this, everything cleared up and as far as I know has not returned. I don't know if it was ever confirmed to be too strong of a signal; you might search and see if you can find those threads. But the experiences there indicate it was a Verizon problem (despite their initial denials.)

Not sure if I found the exact threads you're referring to, but I what I will do (when I'm home later) is check the signal level and also see if there's any attenuation on that line. The particular feed to the S3 was split by Verizon for them to install the router at that location in my home. However, I've not yet signed up for their internet service while evaluating the TV service. But I'm ready to go for internet, once I make that decision.

The same behavior happens with the Motorola STBs/DVRs on occasion -- on those boxes, you fix it by turning the box off and that back on. Sometimes, even bringing up certain menus fixes the problem. It looks like some kind of buffer issue.

Not practical though when watching a previously recorded show, since this pixelization is in the saved recording.

I'm a Dallas FiOS customer and I experienced the severe pixelation during American Idol last night as well. I was less than a third of the way through it when it started and it continued through the rest of the show (making for a very upset wife).

I previously posted that I added the line terminator and the attenuators, though the problem had mysteriously cleared up on its own. Last night, the problem was pretty strong on all of my HD locals. So I took the opportunity to play with the attenuators a bit. I tried 0, 3, 6, 9, 10, 13, and 16 db (using a few combinations of attenuators I picked up) and saw very little effect on the problem.

Each cycle of testing involved me going to a analog (or SD local) channel (like channel 4), watching a second of video with no pixelation, and going back to an HD local (like channel 804). Typically I could watch a few seconds of the HD local before it started to pixelate again. Occasionally, I'd have to flip around the HD local channes before it started up again. Once it starts, changing the channel to any HD local shows constant pixelation. The only way to get it to clear up again (even if momentarily) was to go back to (e.g.) channel 4 then back to the HD local.

No amount of attenuation had any effect on the pattern I saw here. Signal strength on the HD Local channels oscillated around in about the same region (maybe plus or minus 2 points) of 84-92-ish (with "no signal" messages flashing sporadically).

Since this problem was so intermittent before but stayed strong all last night (and even continued this morning), I assume Verizon is really tearing some stuff up somewhere. Although, it's obvious that TiVo could handle this problem with a patch to their boxes (since my Verizon FiOS DVR, playing side-by-side with the S3, shows no problems in the signal)... I can understand TiVo's argument that they shouldn't have to. But since the S3 did cost a small fortune, I kind of expect them to.

I'd love to hear some kind of official word on this... As I detest contacting tech support (so they can just put me on hold and make me wait for them to talk down to me).

I was the one who said that the OTA terminating resistor and the attenuators might help. Looks like I was wrong. While it seemed to work for me for quite a while, I noticed the problem was back last night. It may have cleared up on its own at the same time I was trying the OTA terminating resistor and the attenuators. I hadn't noticed it for so long since I'd switched to an OTA antenna and have been recording everything on local HD stations from that.

At this point, I'd suggest that anyone with Fios use an OTA antenna. I can understand Tivo not wanting to create specialized code for every cable provider, and it does seem like this problem affects Fios users almost exclusively.

Also, I will say that the S3 has an extremely good OTA tuner. I'm 35-40 miles away from the HD towers in Dallas. I can get every single local HD station using a home-made antenna formed by stripping the shielding off of about 3.5 feet of coax cable, where the stripped cable is mounted horizontally in an interior closet in my house. I used an amplifier to help improve the reception. The signal strength shown by the S3 is as low as 68-69 on some days, but the programs recorded by the S3 are still perfect. It is also able to receive both VHF and UHF stations.

I was the one who said that the OTA terminating resistor and the attenuators might help. Looks like I was wrong. While it seemed to work for me for quite a while, I noticed the problem was back last night. It may have cleared up on its own at the same time I was trying the OTA terminating resistor and the attenuators. I hadn't noticed it for so long since I'd switched to an OTA antenna and have been recording everything on local HD stations from that.

At this point, I'd suggest that anyone with Fios use an OTA antenna. I can understand Tivo not wanting to create specialized code for every cable provider, and it does seem like this problem affects Fios users almost exclusively.

Also, I will say that the S3 has an extremely good OTA tuner. I'm 35-40 miles away from the HD towers in Dallas. I can get every single local HD station using a home-made antenna formed by stripping the shielding off of about 3.5 feet of coax cable, where the stripped cable is mounted horizontally in an interior closet in my house. I used an amplifier to help improve the reception. The signal strength shown by the S3 is as low as 68-69 on some days, but the programs recorded by the S3 are still perfect. It is also able to receive both VHF and UHF stations.

FWIW, since I made my initial post, I've attenuated my signal down to about 90 on the Tivo signal strength meter and have not had any problems. Of course, I'm in a different market than you folks.